Chelmsford bishop tells Desert Island Discs about brother's murder

Guli Francis-Dehqani believes that without Bahram's murder, her family may not have settled in the UK

A bishop whose brother was murdered in the wake of the Iranian Revolution said her family had "spent a lifetime coming to terms with it".

The Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, was speaking on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

She was just 14 years old when her brother Bahram, 24, was murdered in Tehran on 6 May 1980.

Speaking to host Lauren Laverne, she said she found out about the murder "purely by accident".

Her mother was in Tehran at the time, as was her brother who was teaching at the university.

She has been the Bishop of Chelmsford since April 2021

"My eldest sister, who was looking after me, found out very late at night after I had gone to bed," she said.

"Because there was so much uncertainty around, she decided, and I completely understand it... She decided to not say anything to me, and I don't know quite how she did it."

Dr Francis-Dehqani, who has served as Bishop of Chelmsford since April 2021, found out at school from a classmate who had read the news.

Her brother had been ambushed in his car by two young men and one pulled out a gun and killed him.

The bishop said: "We've spent a lifetime coming to terms with it. In a sense, it was his sacrifice that brought us here. I don't think my mum and my sister and I would have left if we hadn't had a very good reason to.

"So he gave us the gift of a chance of a new life in this country."

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She moved to the UK because her father, the Anglican Bishop of Iran, was staying on a visit.

She went on to study music at Nottingham University and work at the BBC, before returning to her faith in her late 20s and being ordained as a priest.

Dr Francis-Dehqani is the first minority ethnic woman to be ordained as a bishop in the UK.

"I had the feeling that it was clearly not about what I had done, in terms of experience in the church, it was about my life experiences, and what that might have to contribute now within the context of the Church of England," she told Ms Laverne.

"I feel like I represent something way beyond myself."

Dr Francis-Dehqani's chosen tracks for the programme included Sinead O'Connor's Take Me To Church, which reminds her of her Irish husband, Lee.

She added that she would take the 10th Century epic Persian poem The Book of Kings with her on to the desert island, as well as her photo albums.

Listen again: Desert Island Discs, Guli Francis-Dehqani